


Freaks, Geeks and Burgers

by EmiliyWednesday



Category: Bob's Burgers (Cartoon)
Genre: Best Friends, Bi Louise, Bisexual Female Character, Bisexuality, F/F, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Gen, Gene being a happy bean, Jimmy Jr being super angsty, Louise being stubborn af, Millie is into some real occult shit tho, Romance, Teens being teens, There may be some sweeney todd, Tina and Zeke being cute af, gay female
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-04-19 06:41:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14231523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmiliyWednesday/pseuds/EmiliyWednesday
Summary: A coming of age story following The Belcher kids and their friends and peers! This is based on a AU I do for tumblr, and Louise is 16, Gene 18, and Tina is 20! This will be a long, long story featuring a lot of characters, but mainly following the Belchers.





	1. Meet the Freaks and Geeks!

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, and welcome to my brand new fic! This is, as you've probably already seen in the summary, based on an AU I do on tumblr, so feel free to check that out at https://taking-out-the-trash-fam.tumblr.com/post/171730094455/trashs-olderbelcher-kids-wfriends-au to get some extra info, but it's not needed! This first chapter will be kind of an introduction to the characters featured, and where they currently are in life, and after that each chapter will be in one characters POV at the time!

**Tina Belcher** is, as she always was, what’s good in this world. She is trusting, and calm, and a dreamer. She is still a firm believer in faith and destiny, and she needs that to keep moving forward, for the world can truly be a scary place.

One would perhaps think that High School was a hard place for a girl like Tina, with her somewhat wild hair, big glasses, and love for horses and reading, but Tina was born with some solid survival instinct, and even more imagination. So what if she didn’t do well in math, when she could dream about what she was going to write about for that essay in English later? And so what if the guy she secretly wanted to ask her to the dance asked someone else, when Zeke suddenly popped out of nowhere and swooped her of her feet? Anyone else present would probably not have noticed any sweeping or swooping of any kind, but this is Tina we’re talking about, and it didn’t take all that much to swoon her. Good ol’ Jimmy-Ju insists that he’s fine with Tina and Zeke, but both Louise, Linda and the Pesto twins assure her that drama is about to break down. But, to be fair, they’ve been saying that for three years now.

Tina and Zeke have the purest relationship known to the town, and possibly the world. Their friendship had grown pretty sturdy when Zeke asked Tina to that school dance, and everything just flowed very naturally from there. They’re both, to some extent, used to being in the background, and they need a while to realize how easy and nice things are when they’re together. They’re both just happy spending time together, alone or with friends, and they have no problems accepting each others (many) quirks. They share a love for the outdoors, driving and camping, and tend to do that quite a lot, at least during summer. 

When High School was over Tina didn’t want to leave her home behind, and since Zeke were taking a gap year and staying in town, community college seemed like a good idea. She secretly wants to be a writer of horror or romance novels, or preferably both. Everyone knows that, but she doesn't realize that. When she started college she got back into espressos, and it’s a problem, but it’s basically her only real problem, so nobody nags her about it. She’s just started writing her first book, and she dedicated it to her siblings. She still works at the restaurant to help out when she’s got the time, and has no plans of moving out right now. Everyone is fine with that, even though Louise sometimes mentions that’s she’s still living in an actual closet. Tina once offered for them to share her room, and Louise hasn’t bugged her about it since. 

 **Gene** is truly a kid full of potential and talent. It’s just a shame that he’s full of so many other things as well. Like a extreme love for random, useless facts. And zen. Man, is that kid full of zen. At least when it comes to big, real life stuff like school, grades, future, love life and jobs. He has a flare for the dramatic, but that’s more for entertainment, honestly.

Gene loves his sisters a lot, to a point where they’re the people he hangs out with most. Them and their friends, mostly. He doesn’t always get Tina, and she doesn’t always get him, but he sure does look fan-tas-tic in her glasses, and she really enjoys it when he narrates her stories out loud for her like a dramatic play. Louise is different, because Louise is his best friend in the whole wide world. It’s always been that way, and they both know that it’ll always stay like that. He makes sure she doesn’t get too… well, Louise can get a bit carried away, and Gene is good at holding her back, while she is rather good at motivating him to do important stuff. At least sometimes.

Louise and Gene have always gone together better than most siblings. They’re both outcasts, they’re not really interested in what society says their gender and age says they should be, and together they learned that it's nothing wrong with that. They both have lives on their own, but many of Louise’s friends are Gene’s friends as well, and they end up hanging out a lot. Their differences are many, but it’s what makes them so strong as a team. Gene tends to see things in a positive light, while Louise can be a tad to cynical at times, and they even each other out nicely. Also, he’s usually there when she tries to skate (she swears, she’s getting better!!), so he saves her ass like, a lot.

Gene had a very confusing time when he started High School and everybody seemed to think he was gay. He had never really thought about it, but when he did, it made sense, so he said yes to the boy asking him out, came out to his family and thought that was it. But, as it turned out, Gene was not gay at all, just a kid with a flare for the dramatic who had spent a little too much time with his mother and sisters, and then he had to go through that whole process again, which was actually way more traumatizing for him the second time around. Now he just thinks of it as a learning experience, and loves to tell the story at parties.

All he wants to do with his life is to become a DJ at big festivals and tour the world, and maybe do theater at the side. Bob sighs a lot when he talks about it, but Gene really doesn’t understand why. It’s a great plan, honestly. People need to chill, and eat some gummyworms. They’re great, really, everyone would be a lot happier and sigh a lot less if they ate more gummyworms.   

 **Louise** is a different story. If sarcasm was a shield, this girl would be wearing a full suit of armor, baby. Seriously, Linda theorizes that Louise has actually lost the ability to talk like a normal person. Besides that, she’s really a good kid, even tough she may not look like it. But when you’re the smallest, and youngest, in your family, you have to take some measures. She still wears her bunny ears, just not all the time. And she let’s Linda wash it.  _Hand wash_  it. If the hat is not on, she always wears her hair in space buns or pigtails, not really comfortable with her hair everywhere.

She also loves wearing fingerless gloves, it makes her feel badass, like a biker. When life becomes to much for her, she sneaks away to hang with the One Eyed Snakes. She know she’d be dead meat if her parents found out, but the feeling out sitting behind on a motorcycle, not having control and just letting go is so therapeutic to her. And it’s not like they’re kids, all the Snakes are grown up, and they all know she’s Bob’s daughter and they drive super carefully with her, to her great disappointment.

When she’s not riding on the back of gang members motorcycles, she’s riding her skateboard, and because of that she’s always scraped up at her knees, sometimes elbows and hands, and she’s always late. She’s terrible at skating, but she swears, she’ll get the hang of it soon! In Middle School she decided to make herself a little crew, and they’ve stuck together since then. They consist of Andy and Ollie Pesto, Regular Sized Rudy, and, to everybody’s great shock, Millie Frock. Huh, that rhymes. But more on that later. The Millie thing, not the rhyming. 

Poor **Jimmy Pesto Jr** , did that boy ever have a chance to become anything  _but_  a giant ball of angst, really? All trough High School he kept insisting that Linkin Park’s Numb was actually about his life.  _Seriously_ , just listen to it!! In all fairness, Jimmy-J did grow up very much alone. His younger brothers closer than even normal twins, and his dad only seeing himself and never accepting Jimmy-J for what he wanted to do with his life, things became harder and harder. The High School counselor didn’t help by constantly reminding him that dancing wasn’t a reliable career, and the feeling of not fitting on just kept consuming him.

The girls around him just kept getting more and more annoying, Tammy and Jocelyn just became more and more typical superficial teens, and he couldn’t stand it, and Tina was a bit… much, for him, too be honest. He liked her, but, he was so… different. And she liked horses and teen shows, she could never understand him. So, when his only constant, his only  _real_  safety net in life, his best friend Zeke came to him to check that it would be okay if he asked Tina to a upcoming dance, Jimmy-J had no option but to be cool with it. He couldn’t loose Zeke.  _Never_. And he did want Tina to be happy, he guessed.

So, he just kept smoking his cheap cigarettes, fighting with his dad, listening to punk really loud on his headset to make a statement, and danced for his life. All he wanted was to dance, and right now that is what he’s doing. And for the time being, that’s enough. 

 **Andy and Ollie Pesto** , on the other hand, is nothing like their older, angsty brother. They're the kind of twins that have no shame in being dependent on each other. They finish each others sentences, and sometimes thoughts, they share everything and have never been jealous of each other. Growing up with their family could be hard, and they’re used to leaning on each other. They love to go out of their way to surprise and prank their friends and peers, but just to make them smile or laugh, never to make fun of anyone.

In many ways, they’re their gangs conscience, when the others all have tendencies to go a bit far when they get carried away. They manage to be apart, but it’s no secret that they prefer to be together if possible. Sharing friends makes that easier. They embrace their differences, their separate dreams and ambitions. Fights are non-exsisting, even though that’s something other people never seem really to believe. They simply don’t have anything to fight about. One thing’s for sure, it’s impossible not to get in a better mood with Andy and Ollie around. They're still different persons tough, and it's becoming more and more apparent to people around them. 

Andy, for example, is a great cook. He loves, like all of Louise’s friends, to hang out at the restaurant, but for him it’s more than just a cool place to hang around. As soon as Bob realized the twins was nothing at all like Jimmy Senior, he let Andy hang around with him in the kitchen when he wanted to, and found a great (and free) helper in him. He and Louise also comes up with the best and funnies burgers of the day when they work together.

Andy is also a tad shyer than his twin brother, and prefers to let Louise and Ollie to most of the talking when they get themselves in sticky situations. This is probably one of the reasons he loves Louise so much, she makes him feel safe, and even better, like Ollie is also safe. To Linda’s great disappointment tough, this love is just platonic, but she is like a sister to them both. Andy also likes Tina very much, they like many of the same books, and he wants to study something like her when he goes off to college. His favorite place in the world, besides Bob’s Burgers is the Wonder Warf, and while Ollie loves the big swings, Andy’s favorite is the ferries wheel. 

Two halves of a whole idiot, Louise and Rudy usually calls them. Ollie doesn’t mind, as long as nobody think he’s a mean idiot. Because he is not a mean guy. He may not always think things through as well as his twin, but he’s working on it. A long time ago, he decided that he was going to look at life in the most positive way possible. So what their dad didn’t care for them?

They had great friends, and even kind of a back up family in the Belchers. And so what if their own older brother thought he was too different and deep for them to get him, he had Gene, and Gene was way funnier anyway. And Gene always had candy, Jimmy-J only had those horrible cigarettes. Ollie didn’t get that addiction at all. But maybe he shouldn’t really talk, after this summers catastrophic events with the claw machines at the Warf. Andy, Louise, Millie and Rudy had to drag him away from that big Pikachu. Rudy almost died of an asthma attack, but he keeps insisting it’s not Ollies fault. He almost had that giant Pikachu. Louise says he’s not allowed to use the claw machines anymore. 

While Jimmy Jr think’s he is the most misunderstood guy in the world, **Zeke** just might actually be. Big, burly guy, grew up at the wrong side of town, with a love for big trucks and wrestling? But seriously, he is just a big sweetheart, who lives and breathes for the people he loves. He looks past Jimmy-J’s emo shell, and he saw more in Tina than anyone else, he still does, he listens to everything his bosses have to teach him, and he always does everything for his family.

He still can’t believe he managed to get his Tina, and he makes sure she knows how happy he is with her. Her family seems to like him, and Louise tolerates him, and that’s more than he hoped for. His and Tina’s favorite thing to do together is to take small road trips in his truck, maybe they put up a tent, he loves the nature, she just loves to read, everywhere. He has a secret dream to end up running the restaurant with Tina later in life, but that’s his secret for now. 

Spoiler Alert: **Rudy** stayed regular sized. Thank God. What else was he going be known as, after all these years? He also stayed friends with Louise, and he would follow her to the worlds end. But the friendship that nobody saw coming, was the one with a certified (or so she claims) witch, Millie Frock. They were just so different, and still so similar at some points. Like their love for horror stories, even tough Millie thrives of them, and Rudy almost have a panic attack every time.

His new favorite hobby is to get Ollie, or sometimes Millie or even Gene, to help him fake his own death whenever Louise is being too much, and it works almost every time. Louise keeps telling him that one day, he’ll die and she won’t actually even care anymore, but that has not happened yet, and he’s not very worried, as she still freaks out every time. It may sound a bit harsh, but trust him, it’s only when she really deserves it. Other than that Rudy is a classic side kick, and he’s very happy with that. He lives his best life with his weird, but amazing, little group of friends, all the burgers he wants, his regular hight, and cartoony red hair. Life is good for Regular Sized Rudy. 

He really loves his friendship with Louise. They have been close for so long that neither of them really knows how to work without the other one. Louise makes Rudy brave, and safe, and confident, and Rudy makes Louise think, calculate risks and consider other peoples feelings. One of their favorite things to do is to sneak away to McDonalds and eat their shitty nuggets, it’s a huge guilty pleasure for both of them, as Bob would kill Louise if found out she ever ate at McD’s, and Rudy’s mom would probably have a heart attack of the thought of Rudy eating something that unhealthy.

Rudy is way more devious than people think, and Louise saw that in him pretty fast. He loves to play dead around her when she’s being too much of a bossy b**ch, and it always works, and she always promises that next time, she won’t fall for it and one day he’ll actually be dying and she won’t care, but he’s not very worried about that. He knows he’s one of her soft spots, and that makes him feel…special, in a way.

He used to have a huge crush on her in Middle School, but quickly gave that idea up, and tried to never think about her like that again, feeling like he was setting of for heartbreak. But lately, when they’re alone in her room, or his dads empty apartment as he’s out dating, and they’re watching conspiracies on Youtube, or doing homework, or just him doing homework and her napping, he’s gotten this weird vibe from her, and it both excites and terrifies him to near death. Louise is honestly just trying to shut all these feelings she may or may not have for him out at all costs, she just can’t deal with them. She loves Rudy with all of her small, black heart, and the thought of ever loosing him is way too much for her. They’re perfect as best friends, and they’re both trying very hard to be happy with that. 

So what if she’s crazy? All the best people are. Or something like that. Because  **Millie**   _is_  crazy, totally batshit actually. But she means well, and as soon Louise realized just how valuable and  _fun_  that mix of crazy and supportive made, they’ve stuck together. And with that, Millie met her platonic, but unlikely soulmate; Rudy. Yes, the regular sized one.

It turns out Rudy has quite the dark sense of humor, and really likes being scared, and if there’s one thing Millie is good at, it’s scaring people. Millie loves the occult, the inexplainable, and the spooky. She and Louise loves to have small seances and try out the ouija board they got from an old flee market once. Neither Rudy or the Pesto twins wants to take any part of that, and to be honest, Millie is glad.

Being the only openly gay girl at their High School is hard, and even harder when you’ve got feelings for your best friend, who you just happened to stalk and have an extreme obsession with in fourth grade. One things’s for sure, it’s not easy being Millie. Luckily she has Louise. Millie and Louise are living proof that two crazies does  _not_  make anything sane. But that’s probably why their friendship works.

They had quite the rocky start as fourth graders, but during Middle School Louise really learned the benefits of having someone as crazy, or in Millies case, much crazier, as your on your side. Also, Millie is a girl, and even tough Louise doesn’t always like to talk about it, she is too, and having a girl friend when all your other close friends are boys is very valuable at times. Millie is much more than a girl tough.

She is the one to always back Louise up, and Louise never let’s anyone give Millie any shit for being a bit out there. Millie loves reading scary stories out loud, sometimes old Lovecraft and Poe stories, sometimes urban stuff from Creepypasta and r/nosleep, and Louise loves to listen. They thrive when they find rituals to try, places to go, or any other activity that involves the supernatural. Sometimes Andy and Ollie join them, but they have their limits. Gene and Rudy does not go anywhere near that shit.

 **Courtney Wheeler** had a perfectly okay life until she started High School. Her dad has a pretty neat job, her parents are still together, the have plenty of money, she has a few good friends, and, yes, a small heart problem… But that heart problem was nothing compared to the heart problem when she was put in the same homeroom as Gene Belcher.

She was smitten, again, from the second he slumped down next to her, and there was simply nothing to do about. When he came out as gay she actually thought she was going to die from heart break, but that turned out to be a false alarm. Not that it helped her. No, she joined the cheerleaders, first because she wanted to, but then it became about attention, so she joined Drama Club, with Gene, and helped him with his music, she did  _everything_! But that boy was just to oblivious. They were friends tough, and she tried to be happy with that, but it was just that part of her that couldn’t let him go… They’ve got one last year together, as high schoolers at least, and she’s going to try to have as much fun possible as just his friend.


	2. I did a bad thing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louise reflects about her life, friends and feelings.

The sounds of the rollercoaster, the games and other carousels at the Wonder Warf is playing as a strange background soundtrack to the five teens conversation. They're sitting in a row at the end of the pier, legs dangling of the edge as arms and elbows resting on the old, wooden fence as they face towards the ocean and sunset. It's pretty warm for a late September evening, and they're all soaking in the last reminders of summer. 

Louise, sitting in the middle of her friends, with the Pesto twins to her left, and Rudy and Millie on her right. Their conversation about the new, young English teacher, Mr Peterson, isn't really something she's interested in, and she's only half-listening. Rudy moves a bit, and in the process his hand brushes against hers, and she feels her heart speed up a bit and she hurries to move her hand and fix her bunny-ears. 

This was seriously getting out of hand. Literally! 

The others continue the conversation, but she feels Rudy's gaze on her for a few seconds before he laughs at something Ollie said. 

Louise sighs and leans her chin on top of her arms and sighs quietly. Lately she's been struggling with the realization that she might not be straight, and just as she was about to feel ready to come out as gay, both to herself and friends and family, these feelings around Rudy starts acting up. She has no idea what to do, what to think and who to talk to, and she's really worried that someone will notice and ask her about it. 

"Right, Louise?" Andy's voice breaks her out of her train of thoughts, and she raises her head and looks at him. 

"What?!" she asks, a lot harsher than she meant to. 

Andy and Ollie both look a bit taken aback, and she feels bad right away, but doesn't really know what to say.

"Uhm, I was just saying that the Mr Peterson seems to have a pretty interesting take on some of the old classics..." Andy mumbled, and looked over at Ollie for help. 

Ollie shrugs and elbows Louise lightly. 

"Cheer up Lou, it's only one more day of school before the weekend!" he says, grinning. 

"Yes, we can finally do the Saw marathon we've talked about for ages! Right Louise?" Millies head pops our from behind Rudy as she leans forward and her curly, blonde hair falls in her face. 

Rudy winces a bit, but then he smiles carefully at her, and Louise can't help but smile a little.  

"Sure, I wouldn't mind some gore." She says and Ollie starts bouncing exited beside her. Andy, on the other hand, looks a bit more thoughtful. 

"But, where?" he asks. "Dad's not going to let us stay all night in the living room, and I don't think any of your parents will be too happy with it either?" 

Rudy does a small salute and winks at Andy. 

"Come on guys, have a little faith!" he says and grins. "My dad is going away for a singles retreat the whole weekend, and as long as we're not too loud my neighbours won't tell on us." 

Millie claps her hands and giggles. Andy and Ollie look at her, a tad freaked out by her behavior, and Louise shakes her head, smiling. 

Her friends may be a bunch of outcasts and weirdoes, but they're her outcasts and weirdoes. 

_Later, that night_

As Louise is walking home from the Warf, alone, as she and Millie were the ones who stayed the longest and lived of different sides of town, she can't stop thinking about all the confusing feelings she's been having lately. 

Maybe she was bisexual? Was that even a thing? She thought it was, but when she thought about it, she couldn't think of anyone she knew or had heard about that was openly out as bi. She should probably talk to someone about it, but she honestly didn't know who. 

Her dad was out of the picture. Not because he wouldn't want to help, but she knew he didn't know anything about this stuff. He tried his best to be there for Gene when he went trough his gay or wait, not gay thing a few years ago, but it was clear that he wasn't any help. 

Linda would defiantly freak out about her little baby having crushes and feelings, and Louise was in no state to deal with that. Tina was almost the same, being perfectly happy in a relationship, and very much into romance, she would probably just tell her to go with her heart or some crap. Ugh.

That left her with Gene. Many people seemed to think Gene was nothing but a happy, go-lucky guy without any insight in feelings and worries, but Louise knew better. Gene was in many ways her rock in life, and she knew he would listen if she talked to him about this. He probably also had some tips and thoughts based on what he went through a few years back. 

It all really came down to her, and if she would be able to express her feelings. It wasn't exactly her strong side. 

Suddenly, she stopped by a somewhat familiar house, and looked around. The big, fancy house was almost exactly the same as the last time she was here, many years ago, on a mission to retrieve her beloved bunny-hat. The Bush house. Logans former home. 

Honestly, Louise hadn’t even thought about that snobby brat in years. With their four, almost five, years of age gap, they didn’t even go to High School at the same time. When she was a freshman, he was off to some fancy business school, and she didn’t complain. Usually, she wasn’t the type to forget and move on, but honestly, going around hating him when he was so far away felt like a waste of time and energy, and he didn’t deserve either of those. 

So, when she was hanging outside the ice cream parlor with her friends one warm summer night, and saw him walk out of a red sports car a few blocks away, she didn’t expect to even react at all. But  _oh god_ , did she. Seeing her old tormenter just walking there,  _here_ , in  _her_  town, like he owned the place? It was infuriating.

Luckily, she hadn't seen him around since then. But now, standing outside his house, her feelings running wild, and seeing his stupid, red car standing parked on the street, just like that? 

She stopped, partly hidden in the shadow of a tree, and gritted her teeth. Her hand wrapped around the keys in her pocket, and she felt a rush of adrenaline. She would show him. Show him that he couldn’t just  _come here,_  and think he was all that. He probably didn't have a care in the world, that son of a bitch. 

She took the keys out of her pocked and stalked towards the car. She had gotten “key privileges” to the restaurant and apartment when she turned 16 a while back, and while her parents sure expected her to misuse it, this probably wasn’t what they had in mind. 

When she got to the side of the car facing away from the house, she crouched down, and tugged at the pink ears of her hat for a bit. Quite ironic, that she’d worn that hat today. But, as she did so, every bit out doubt left her mind as she remembered the horrible vulnerability she had felt when he so brutally stole them, ripped away such a big part of her identity, without any second thought. 

That son of a bitch, indeed.  

The job was done rather fast, just a bunch of uneven lines on the side of his car, and she felt nothing but pleased with what she had done. She was just about to walk away when a crazy idea made her crouch down once again, as she scribbled a small “- Love, four-ears” at the bottom. She grinned to herself, before he hurried away, feeling like she had just pulled of a successful bank robbery. 

She might not be in control of her emotions, but she sure as hell wouldn't let an opportunity of revenge slip past her because of that. 

 


	3. The worst play in Huxley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gene and Courtney becomes horrified witnesses to the drama class' selection of this falls musical.

"Oh crap..." 

Gene Belcher breathes the words out as he hurries in the front doors and into the deserted halls of Huxley High School. 

"Oh crap, Oh crap, OH CRAP!" he says the last words out loudly, as he realizes that he is even later than he first thought. 

Damn Tuesdays and his and Louise's damn different schedules on this damned day! He had lucked out so much since he started going here, that, up until now, he had started the same time as one of his sisters every day, not having to keep tracks on alarms and stuff himself. His two first years Tina had woken him up every day, calmly telling him to remember school, and last year Louise would barge into his room and yell something about the aliens taking over, or playing a Vine fitted for the day, weather or situation at hand very, vey loudly. 

But this year, that luck had ended, and he started Tuesdays a whole hour before Louise. Damn Senior year.

He hurries towards the Drama room, and by a extreme blessing from Madame Fortuna, he manages to slip into the classroom just before their drama teacher. He quickly spots his best, and only really, friend in his year, Courtney Wheeler, and sits down beside her at a desk at the far back of the room. 

The blonde girl looks him up and down quickly and shakes her head with a small smile.

"Did we oversleep, mr. Belcher?" she says in a fake British accent, perfectly matching Mrs, Jeffords, their drama teacher. As far as anyone knew, she was born and raised in this very town, and no one really knows what's the deal about the accent. 

Gene looks down on himself as a reaction to Courtneys question. He might just have had thrown on a old, green hoodie and some jeans, and not have done anything with his thick, half-long dark hair, but honestly he looked like that every day. 

"I noticed you coming in the room late, Gene." Cortney says and grins. "That, and you're terribly out of breath." 

Gene just grins and shrugs, and Courtney looks towards the front of the room again. 

She sure had changed since he met her in sixth grade. Back then, she was just an annoying girl with bushy, blonde hair in pigtails who had a crush on him. She used to breath to loud, and always have her necklace in her mouth. Yeah, she used to me _that_ girl. Not anymore, tough. 

When they started High School and was put in the same homeroom, Gene barley realized it was her. That summer, she had cut off her hair to reach just below her shoulders, started to straighten it in some magical way, and had a constantly bored look on her face. 

Except when she was with Gene, luckily. 

She had a delightfully strange humor, much like himself, and she dressed really cool, in dark clothes, often dresses or shirts with white collars, but always had some sort of pink accessory, a bag or sunglasses or something, and she seemed to like drama and music as much as Gene.

"Mr. Belcher, what do you think?" 

The fake British accent of Mrs. Jeffords managed to pull Gene out of his thoughts, but a tad to late. Gene didn't really have any other response than to look back at her with wide, scared eyes, and the woman sighed. 

"About the school play, Gene!" she says, and in the heat of the moment, some of her accent fades away just a tad.

"Oh!" Gene exclaims, suddenly exited.

"The Rocky Horror Show!" he almost yells, and he hears Courtney cover a laugh with a cough next to him as Mrs Jeffords looks at him like he just grew another head. 

"Gene, no." The teacher says sternly.

"But..." he merly starts, but he stops when he sees the look on Mrs Jeffords face. 

"Anyone else have any idea?" The teacher asks, and looks around the room. Nothing but silence. 

"Come on students, it's your senior year!" she exclaims and claps her hands. "This is your year to choose the musical, your chance to be a star, to direct, to..." 

She trails off as she looks out over her class, and sighs. 

"Well, you have to do it, so someone better come up with something." 

A dark skinned boy with glasses and some tiny stubble on his chin, Darryl, raises his hand slowly. 

"We could do Grease, maybe?" he says, uncertainly. 

"HAH!" Courtney huffs loudly. 

"What was that, Courtney?" Mrs Jeffords asks, clearly getting tired of this whole situation. 

"Grease?!" Courtney shakes her head. "That masochist, sexist, slutshaming..." 

"Okay, Courtney!" Mrs Jeffords snaps. "We get the point. What would you like for us to do, then?" 

Courtney shrugs. 

"Sweeney Todd?" She says, looking at her teacher with raised eyebrows. 

"And NOT the school version. The full version with all the songs, gore and crazy people." 

Mrs Jeffords looks like she wants to object, but then she just deflates. 

"Does anyone here have a problem with that?" she asks the class, and looks around. 

When nobody answers, she just nods, once. 

"Fine then. Sweeney Todd it is!" She get's a dreamy look in her eyes, and looks out at her class with bright eyes. 

"You know kids, there really is no place like London..." 

Gene can almost hear Courtney rolling her eyes. 


	4. The Ex-Files

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Going to the movies with your ex boyfriend, who just happens to be you current boyfriends best friend? Sound like a good idea to Tina.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this has taken forever, I've been having a bit of writers block, but I'm back in business now!

This weeks Global Top 40 Pop list plays pretty loudly from the small, pink i-Penguin speaker on the white bedside table. 

20 year old Tina Belcher is lying on her bed, plopped on a pile of pillows, reading one of her moms old Cosmo's, trying to make the time pass, as well as enjoying being able to actually play her music out loud. She looks over at the mechanically dancing penguin on her table, and then to the horse hoof-shaped clock standing besides it.

She sighs. Still an hour until she was meeting up with Jimmy Jr. 

It wasn't really hanging out with the tall, brooding dancer she was looking forward to, but the movie they were seeing. Everything to do with zombies still made her exited, and this one looked like it had some solid romantic side plot. 

The best of both worlds, really. 

The dark haired girl is pulled out of her thoughts by three loud bangs on her door, before it opens and Louise is barging in. 

"Oh my God, T, what ARE you listening to?!" She half yells over the music, and gestures to the dancing penguin. 

Tina sits up and fixes up her glasses a bit, before smiling calmly at her sister.

"It's the Global Top 40 list." She tells her sister, before raising her eyebrows. "Aren't you supposed to be down a the restaurant right now?" 

Louise shrugs, and taps the i-Penguins head to turn it of. It makes the small sad "are you really turning me off?" sound that always makes Tinas heart hurt a little, but Louise taps the head firmly once again and rolls her eyes. 

"Top 40..." she mumbles and shakes her head as she sits down on the foots end of her sisters bed. 

"And yeah, but Gene and Andy is there, so they didn't really need me. I told dad I had some homework to do, so he sent me off." 

She crosses her legs and turn towards Tina and nudges her lightly.

"Sooo, Tina, is there something you want to tell me..?" she asks and tilts her head innocently. 

"Uhhmmm..." Tina says, uncertain what her younger sister was talking about. "That you should probably do that homework...?" 

"NO, silly!" Louise yells and rolls her eyes. "The homework thing was just an excuse to get out of work!" 

Tina looks at her for a second. 

"So... you don't have any homework?" she asks, not sure what her sister was getting at. 

"No!" Louise says, and sighs. "Or, well, yeah, but I'm not going to... Argh, that's not what this is about!" 

She takes a deep breath before she continues. 

"Andy told me you and good old Jimmy-Ju are going to the movies alone tonight? What that's about, are you and Zeke fighting or something?" 

Tinas eyes widen and she shakes her head quickly. 

"No, of course not, we never fight!" she says quickly. "Zeke just couldn't make it, so he suggested me and Jimmy Jr went instead, he knows I really want to see this movie! And besides, me and Jimmy Jr are friends, it's not that weird." 

Louise shakes her head slowly. 

"Oh, Tina," she says and sighs, "it's never that easy, hanging with an ex like that. And seriously, were you and JJ every really friends? Do you think you two would ever hang out today if it wasn't for Zeke?" 

Tina shrugs, and smiles. 

"I can't tell you if we would hang out without Zeke, because I honestly don't know. But, we were always kind of friends, even when we were on and off again. I mean, I think we were? Yeah, we were." 

Louise follows along her sisters train of thoughts with a semi-interested look on her face. 

"Well, if this ends up being horribly awkward or something, don't tell me I didn't warn ya, T." Louise stands up from the bed and walks towards the door. 

As she's about to leave the room and shut the door after her, she stops for a second to pop her head back in. 

"But anyways, tell me what happened when you come home. I don't know if I can trust the twins on this one." 

And with that she shut the door, and Tina was left with a growing doubt about this whole night. 

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Tina groans to herself as she's sitting at the counter in the family restaurant, looking out to the street. She and Jimmy Jr is supposed to meet in about two minutes, and she's starting to think this all might be a bad idea after all. She drags a hand through her slightly bushy, dark hair, and sighs loudly.

"Hey Tina, why so sad? I thought you were going to the movies?" 

Andy Pesto, one of the Pesto twins and Jimmy Jr's little brother, sticks his head out from the kitchen. His blonde hair, lighter than his older brothers, is getting a little long, falling in his eyes, so he has to blow it out of his eyes. 

Tina nods slowly. 

"I am." She says, and looks into space with a worried look on her face. 

Andy looks at her as if he's waiting for her to continue for a while, but when she doesn't he opens the door from the kitchen and walks out to stand on the other side of the counter as her. 

"Well, are you... sad about that?" he asks, trying to understand her distress.

"No, not really." Tina says.

Andy sighs. Talking to people could be so hard. This was why he preferred to be in the kitchen with Bob, while Gene and Louise did most of the handling of the customers when they hanged at the restaurant. 

Well, that, and the fact that Bob actually seemed way more interested in him and his life than his own dad was. 

He turns his attention over to Tina, and smiles at her. 

"Well, what ever it is that worries you, you better deal with it fast, because my dearest older brother just walked out of our restaurant and is on his way here right now." 

Tina sits up with a panicked look, and turn around on the barstool to see outside.

Sure enough, Jimmy Jr is crossing the street slowly, hands in his pockets, his half long blonde hair in his eyes, and dressed in all black. 

"He's kind of a cliché, isn't he?" Andy asks and grins at her. 

Tina smiles carefully.

"I guess..." she says, and gets on her feet. "Well, bye Andy. My sister is upstairs pretending to do her homework if you need her." 

Andy rolls his eyes, mutters something that sounds like "figures...", and gives her a last wave before he enters the kitchen again.  

Tina hurries outside to keep from any awkward conversation between her family and Jimmy Jr, and is met with the tall boy looking down on her with a questioning look his face. 

"Am I late? And... was that my brother in your kitchen?" he asked her as they start slowly walking in the direction on the movie theater. 

"Late?" Tina asks, and shakes her head. "No, you're not, why did you think that?" 

Jimmy Jr shrugs and looks away for a second, before turning back to her.

"I just thought you were working until 6:30, and it looked like you didn't really... well, work, right now." 

"Oh, right!" Tina says, and nods, "Yeah, I was supposed to, but Andy showed up with Gene and offered to help my dad in the kitchen, so I didn't have to!" 

Jimmy Jr looks thoughtful for a few seconds, before he talks again. 

"Does... does my brothers hang out at your restaurant a lot?" he asks, trying to sound casual, but even Tina can see he didn't know about this, and doesn't really know what to think about it. 

"Well, yeah, all of Louise's friends do." she says, eyeing him carefully. "Why?" 

The tall, blonde boy shrugs and takes out a cigarette packed from his pocket. 

"Do you mind if I...?" he asks her, and she shakes her head, trying not to look too judgmental.

"Well," he continues after lighting up a cigarette and taking a drag from it, "it's just, they're never really home anymore. After dad hired the new staff and we don't have to work there anymore, we never see each other. I guess I was just wondering where they were all the time, but I didn't want to nag them." 

Tina looks at him with a surprised look on her face. 

"Really? I mean, they're almost always with Louise, Rudy and Millie when they're out of school, I think, and I don't think they do much beside hanging out at out place, the Warf or watch movies in Rudy's dads place when he's away. Never anything bad, or well, Louise and Millie might be into some scary ouija stuff, but I don't think Andy and Ollie do that stuff..." she blabbers a bit, but Jimmy Jr looks genuinely interested so she doesn't really feel stupid about it. 

"I'm not really surprised about your sister and that Millie girl, to be honest," he grins a bit and takes another puff from his cigarette. "Your sister was always a bit of a... wild card. And Millie Frock is terrifying." 

Tina smiles and shrugs. 

"Louise is just... herself. But she's really nice, sometimes. But that's a secret. And Millie used to scare me too, and I thought Louise was crazy when she came home one day and told me they were friends. I mean, Millie used to stalk her! She once trapped us in our cardboard fort for a whole Halloween because Louise wouldn't be her friend!" 

Jimmy Jr looks at her with a shocked expression and shakes his head. 

"Damn... And now they're friends? Louise is crazier than I thought!" he chuckles.

The next few minutes they walk in silence, Tina thinking about how crazy Millie used to be, and Jimmy Jr smoking his cigarette. Jimmy Jr is the first one to break the silence. 

"So, that was Andy in your kitchen right?" he asks, and stomps his cigarette on the top of a trashcan without stopping. 

Tina nods. 

"Is he working there or something?" He asks as he sticks his hands in his pockets again. 

"Not really," Tina says slowly, "he just helps out dad sometimes, he says it's fun, and dad doesn't mind a free helper. He says Andy's a good cook though." 

Jimmy Jr nods slowly, and looks to the side for a second. 

"I wonder why he didn't tell me that." 

Tina suddenly feels a bit uncomfortable. As far as she knew, based on what Andy and Ollie told her, Jimmy Jr never really talked to them, about anything, so they just left him alone. She's never considered it was just because he didn't know how to talk to them. 

"Well, did you ever, you know, ask them?" She says carefully. 

The tall boy looks down at her with raised eyebrows. 

"It's really not that easy in our family." He narrows his eyebrows like he's trying to think, and continues. "We don't even eat dinner together, most days. Dad's always busy with the restaurant, the twins are never home, and I'm... well, usually I'm in my room when I'm home, to be honest. We're not great at communication, I guess." 

Tina actually feels bad for him, as he looks even sadder than usual. 

"Well, maybe... I don't know, just asks them if they want to do something with you?" Tina suggests, as they finally reach the movie theater. 

They stop outside the door and Jimmy jr looks down on her. 

"Yeah, maybe I will. Or, no, I most definitely will. Thanks, Tina." He says with the tiniest smile, and Tina smiles back up at him. 

"That's what friends are for, right?" she says happily as she walks into the theater. 

"Yeah..." Jimmy Jr mumbles as he follows her slowly. 

"Friends..." 


End file.
